SKA - CSKA - 2:0

SKA travelled home to play HC CSKA Moscow inside the Ice Palace. Captain Pavel Datsyuk made his long awaited return to the line-up, replacing Viktor Tikhonov in the first line. Young goaltenders Igor Shestyorkin and Ilya Sorokin were both between the pipes for this game.

Given the fact that these teams have plenty of history behind them, it was no surprise to see a high tempo set. CSKA let their adrenaline go their heads though, and they ended up taking eight minutes’ worth of penalty time in the first period alone. Unfortunately, goalkeeper Ilya Sorokin bailed his Moscow teammates out, pulling off several stunning saves. Nevertheless, SKA were gradually upping the intensity, and we eventually got our reward – Sergei Shirokov expertly tipped in a searching Dinar Khafizullin effort.

In the second stanza, some early powerplays gave CSKA the chance to take the initiative. At times, they were pinning SKA inside their own zone, and we had to rely on some huge Igor Shestyorkin stops to keep the dangerous visitors at bay. After successfully killed those penalties, SKA went about taking back control, managing to draw some cheap fouls out of the Muscovites. Ilya Sorokin somehow denied Evgeny Dadonov at point blank range, and having beaten the entire CSKA defence, Alexander Barabanov failed to squeeze his attempt between the pads.

Still down by one, CSKA had no other choice than to attack with all their might in the third. The visitors threw bodies into attack, outshooting SKA 14-1 during the frame. Despite CSKA’s pressure, Igor Shestyorkin didn’t let the visiting team unnerve him, making particularly tricky saves against Ivan Telegin’s backhander and Greg Scott’s clever deflection. CSKA pulled Ilya Sorokin as a last gasp move to salvage something, however that only resulted in Sergei Plotnikov hitting the empty net with only a second on the board. 2:0 today, SKA finally get the better of CSKA!

Match protocol:

SKA – CSKA – 2:0 (1:0, 0:0, 1:0)

Goals:

1:0 Shirokov (Koskiranta, Khafizullin), 17.52

2:0 Plotnikov (Kovalchuk, Datsyuk), 59.59

Goalkeepers: Shestyorkin – Sorokin

Shots on target: 28 – 38

Penalty minutes: 8 – 12

Faceoffs: 39 – 35

Hits: 18 – 8

Referees: Odins, Frano

06.10.2016. Ice Palace, Saint Petersburg.